These cars are still compelling to me despite being old and finding little joy in anything anymore. Uniqueness is a part of it, yes. Mostly it comes down to the engine though. Of course potential power/torque etc. is something, but it’s the sound and brutality of the thing, even in stock form. Would love to drive one…

How much will the new Golf R cost? About the same as the last one, a little more. Nothing close to these numbers, there is no comparing them to the US market.

Or gift, graphics.

Despite my first-year experiences, I’m not really scared of going in on a fresh car design. Depending on the maker of course. I bought one of the first 2015 WRX’s off the boat in 2014, and shit, I was about to say it’s been great (the car is definitely great) but actually the first 2-3 years were a pyroclastic flow of…

Those goddamn rear wheel arch seams, amirite!?

I really want to want GT7. I’m hopeful that it will nudge a slight bit closer to sim racer territory. GT Sport really has morphed into a proper GT title in a lot of ways. But despite it looking utterly gorgeous and including just about every car I truly give a crap about, I can’t enjoy driving in it like I do with Asse…

Agree, not a hot take, and even gets at the point that I had in mind which is “this is what we expect and want in a way, anyhow.”

I still actually came back to NFS 2 after GT. First, because I still loved to go for a rip in the F1, F50 and Isdera (all imprinting on me for life) but 2. and most of all, I would put in cheats to drive the snow-covered box truck with super powerful engine and use it as a super wrecking ball. I recall getting 220mph…

Holy hell, this should have just been about how bad those Test Drive models were. I guess I was so busy with Gran Turismo back then that I didn’t even realize these games existed. (This was actually true until Assetto Corsa on PS4 knocked me out of the GT-induced trance a few years back.)

I actually appreciate the slideshow because my phone digests them so much better. Moderate to long Kinja articles, particularly with more than few pictures, send my phone (first gen iPhone SE 4 lyfe!! or until no longer supported...) into DEFCON 5 battery drain/crash mode. My wife has an iPhone 11 Pro and it still…

I believe the prior R wagon in Europe was DSG only. Either way, yeah, US won’t see it.

That’s my thought. I’ve never met a driving sim AI that I would allow out into the real world track environment, even in a 100% controlled environment where they couldn’t cause harm to people.

I usually counter the WRX Concept rage with a few points:

Problem is they gave us a hatch or wagon from the start in North America all the way until 2015. At which point they still made a wagon, but decided not to give it over. That is painful for those of us who have become accustomed to that performance+utility.

I had been working toward either an E46 M3 or S2000 after giving up on the R33 GT-R idea, but canned all of that at the outset of COVID just to be safe. See prior QOTD regarding “how much will you pay?” I’m getting less and less willing to pay to play, and the prices just keep getting worse. Pretty sure I missed the…

My last three new cars were manual, and my next one will be as well. I’m hoping that’s not for another 4-6 years, but it may be shorter depending on temptation from new WRX STI or if Subaru gives us a turbo wagon with a manual (extremely unlikely.)

Agree, just too bad it wasn’t a Sienna. Orders of magnitude better to live with with just two kids, let alone three.

At least now it will be easy to spot an M3/4.

Anti-wiper is a little bit confounding. I can’t recall knowing anyone like that but I can see how they would exist.

Eh you probably need to have more kids. Thanks for sharing, you’re the man.